Trends in the development of federal relations, the territorial...

Topic 6. Trends in the development of federal relations

6.1. Territorial organization of power and forms of government

The state unites heterogeneous (in ethnic, religious, linguistic, cultural relations) social communities, so there is a need to ensure the interaction of these communities and the integrity of the state. Managing a large state that has a large territory and a large population from the center is difficult enough, therefore, it is expected to create a rather complex management system.

The stability of state institutions, of the entire political life of a society largely depends on the form of state structure that reflects the territorial structure of the state, the relationship between the state and its constituent territorial units.

It is important to clarify that territory - one of the main features of the state and the most important element in the cognition of the essence of the state as a form of political organization of society - is the foundation for building a system of public authorities and local self-government, aimed at successfully solving the problems of rational organization of the state.

A territorial organization should understand certain rules for the arrangement of both the constituent parts of the state territory and the state as a whole; while the territorial organization of the state ensures the establishment of appropriate interrelations between territorial units, as well as the exercise of public authority on the basis of division of territory.

When we talk about the territorial structure of the state, we have in mind primarily a form of territorial organization of power. The territorial structure of the state is, on the one hand, the form of territorial organization of power, and on the other hand, the system of relations between the state as a whole and its constituent parts (territories). The nature of these relationships defines two basic forms of state-territorial organization: unitary and federal. The third form of government - confederation - is no longer a territorial association of constituent parts of the state, but usually the union of sovereign states that have their own territorial state device.

The political and territorial structure of the state is a way of political and territorial organization of the state, a system of interrelations of people living in the center and various regions, the distribution of power in the territory of the state between central and local public authorities.

Most states of the world have a unitary territorial structure. Unitary - a single state with a single constitution and citizenship, with a unified system of government and judicial processes, where a unified system of legislation operates, a single legal and monetary system. The unitary state is characterized by centralized management of administrative-territorial units and the absence of separate (independent) state-territorial entities. This is a single, indivisible, constituting one whole state-territorial system. At the same time, two types of the modern unitary state are distinguished: centralized and decentralized unitary states.

In centralized unitary states, the subordination of the regions to the center is carried out through officials appointed by the central authorities. To this type of unitary state can be attributed to Kazakhstan, the Netherlands, Uzbekistan, Finland. In decentralized unitary states, regional governments are formed independently of the central ones, so their legal relations are built on the basis of decentralization. Such unitary states are Great Britain, Spain, Italy, New Zealand, Japan.

Often, modern unitary states are divided into states with a symmetrical and asymmetric territorial device.

A state with an symmetrical administrative-territorial device is characterized by the fact that its territorial units have equal political and legal status. For example, voivodeships in Poland or the region in Belarus are equal. In a state with an asymmetric administrative territorial unit, its territorial units have different political and legal status. Such characteristic features are inherent in Italy, where Sicily, Sardinia and some other territorial units have special forms and conditions of autonomy, and the status of these autonomies is determined by separate constitutional laws. Asymmetric status is also found in many regions of Spain (Catalonia, Galicia). In recent years, Italy, Spain, the Netherlands and France, while remaining formally unitary, use separate elements of federalism in the state-territorial system.

In modern unitary states, there are often several links of administrative-territorial units depending on the population size and territorial size of the state. There is a two-tier, three-tier and four-part administrative-territorial division. Usually the largest territorial units are provinces, provinces, provinces; these territorial units are divided into districts, districts, counties, etc. Some small states do not have any administrative-territorial division.

The territorial organization of a federal state can be viewed as a system consisting of the following components: a political-territorial organization (in the United States - republics, regions, regions, etc.), an administrative-territorial organization of the subjects of the federation (cities, settlements, etc.), economic and territorial organization (zonal economic region, economic region of the subject of the federation, municipal unit) and departmental organization (management, departments, etc.).

It is considered that in the conditions of federation at the level of both the center and the territorial units, there are the main structural elements of the state: legislative, executive, judicial power, other parts of the state apparatus, etc. At the same time, the availability of these elements is guaranteed by the norms of constitutional law, and they can not be arbitrarily eliminated by the central government.

Federation - is primarily a complex of areas that have specific characteristics that characterize the state itself. But these territories are not states, they are state-like because they represent the territorial units of the state (they are usually called state-territorial entities) and do not have sovereignty, i.e. independent and unlimited from external factors of supreme power, since sovereignty is an attribute of the state and is not inherent in its territorial units.

The federal state structure is characterized by the union of two or more territorial units - subjects of the federation (states, lands, provinces, cantons, republics, regions) into one state. These territories have significant political, economic and cultural autonomy, have their own administrative-territorial division and legislation.

In federal states, the highest federal authorities and higher bodies of power operate at the level of the subjects of the federation, i.e. there are two levels of government: federal and regional.

The powers of the authorities of both levels have a constitutional or other legislative distinction. For federations, there is a dual legal system, often dual citizenship, a bicameral parliament, one of whose chambers represents the interests of the subjects of the federation, and the second - national interests.

Is allocated with the most well-known forms of federation: contractual, neutralist and cooperative. It should be emphasized that the specific forms of the federation are constantly changing, reflecting various options for the relationship between the federal government and the subjects of the federation.

Contract the form of the federation considers the federation to be an association of states transferring on the basis of the treaty some rights to newly formed central authorities. Neutralistic the form of the federation assumes that all socio-economic and political life in certain parts of the state should be carried out on the basis of decisions of federal bodies. Cooperative the form of the federation is based on social and economic cooperation between the federal center and the subjects of the federation.

There are also two main forms of federation formation: on the basis of union and on the basis of autonomy of the federation subjects. It is generally believed that most of the federations created initially on the basis of the union, eventually, in the process of centralization, have actually become federations based on the autonomy of entities that do not have the right to withdraw from it. In recent years, a qualitatively new concept of "European federalism" has been used. - a special form of political union of the states of Western Europe, where political integration is based on the merger of state structures into a broader inter-state community with the creation of new institutions of power and the transfer of some of the sovereign rights of national political bodies to them. There are two basic principles of the construction of the federation - national-territorial and territorial. <./strong>

The Confederation unites independent states to solve common pressing problems (military, energy, financial, etc.). Confederation can not be called a form of government. It is a temporary interstate union formed on the basis of an international treaty, the members of which fully retain their state sovereignty.

The main features of the confederation: 1) the lack of a single territory; 2) the unrestricted right to withdraw from the union;

3) the central government depends on the governments of independent states, because it is contained in their means;

4) financial resources for general purposes, a single policy are formed from the contributions of members of the union; 5) the armed forces of the confederation are under general command; 6) the common agreed international policy does not exclude the independent position of the members of the confederation in specific issues; 7) Legally the members have equal rights, but a state with a higher military and economic potential plays a priority role in the confederation.

Confederations are usually short-lived - they either disintegrate, or are transformed into a federation. However, the principle of confederalism can become a stimulating factor in modern integration processes (in the development of the European Union, the CIS countries, etc.).

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